


Go with the Flow

by Duck_Life



Category: Lab Rats (TV 2012)
Genre: Coming of Age, Fluff, Gen, Menstruation, Puberty, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 06:52:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11549820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: Bree gets her period for the first time. Chase panics. DavenDad is trying his best.





	Go with the Flow

Donald comes downstairs one morning sipping his coffee only to find Adam and Chase huddled outside the bathroom door, looking distraught. “Something wrong?”

“Bree’s dying!” Adam announces dramatically, his brow scrunched up in worry. “And she won’t let us in. And I  _ really _ gotta pee.”

“Adam… use the bathroom upstairs,” Donald says, mind spinning.

“For real?”

He’s been letting them leave the basement more and more recently, short trips, dinners on the main floor, but he still gets nervous every time they’re away from the safety of the basement, outside the GPS signal dampeners, visible through the plate glass windows. “Yes, just hurry back,” he says, watching Adam run to the elevator. He turns to Chase. “So what’s going on?”

“Bree is hemorrhaging,” Chase says, his tone even, his eyes betraying his panic. “According to my database, she’s likely suffering from renal failure causing blood to appear in her urine--”

“Okay, okay,” Donald says, the pieces clicking together. Bree’s 12. He should’ve been expecting this. “Uh, Charlotte-- sorry, I mean Chase-- why don’t you go work on your puzzle in the rec room, okay? I’m gonna have a talk with your sister.” 

Chase deliberates, looking torn. “Is she going to be alright?” 

Donald smiles and ruffles his son’s hair. “She’s gonna be fine, kiddo. This is something every girl goes through. Go play.” When Chase wanders off, Donald raps on the door with his knuckles. “Princess? How you doing?” 

“I’m dying!” Bree wails through the door. “Mr. Davenport, there’s blood  _ everywhere _ .” 

“I know,” he says, taking a deep breath. “Can I come in?” There’s a pause, and then he hears the lock click. Stepping inside, Donald’s not sure what he expected. Bree sits on the edge of the bathtub, hugging her knees toward herself, staring at the toilet looking betrayed.

“There’s blood coming  _ out _ of me,” she says in a small voice. “I tried using toilet paper to block it but it just keeps coming.”

“I know,” Donald says again, kneeling down so he’s eye level with her. “It’s okay, you’re not dying, Bree. You’re gonna be fine. You’re having your period.” 

Her face goes white. “What does that mean?!”

Dr. Evans might have been right-- he needs to get better at the human stuff. Adam, Bree and Chase may be amazing feats of technology but they’re also people, and while Donald’s great with tech, he’s supremely terrible with people. “It means you’re starting puberty and becoming a teenager,” he says, trying to figure out the most comforting yet informative way to explain everything. He’ll find her a book or a movie or something, something that can explain this better than he can. “Most girls get their period around your age. Your body’s gonna go through a whole lot of changes, like your voice might change, you’ll get acne, and once a month you’ll have your period, like right now.”

“ _ Once _ a  _ month _ ?” she screeches. “Turn it off! Upgrade my chip so I don’t have to do it.” 

Donald sighs. Human stuff. Right. “I can’t,” he says. “But I can get you some pads from the store, those’ll work better than toilet paper. And I’ll grab you some Motrin for cramping, and I’ll get you  _ any _ ice cream flavor you want. Okay?”

Bree pouts, looking uncomfortable with this new development. “It’s just for today, right? Until next month I mean.”

Donald hesitates. “Uh, it’ll probably last about a week.”

“A  _ week _ ?!” she yells. “How am I supposed to  _ do _ anything? I can’t run like this! I can’t climb the ceiling like this!”

“Sure you can,” he says. “You can move around fine once you’re using a pad. And you’ll get used to it, trust me.”

“I don’t want to get used to it, I want it to stop.  _ You _ don’t have to do it. Adam and Chase don’t have to do it! Just ‘cause I’m a girl? It’s not fair.”

“Wonder Woman has to do it,” he says, not really sure where he’s going with this, but her face lights up when he mentions her favorite superhero. “Spider-Woman has to do it. Jasmine from  _ Aladdin _ has to do it.”

Bree purses her lips, thinking. Finally she says, “I want peanut butter and chocolate ice cream.”

“You got it.” 

Donald leaves her in the bathroom and turns to walk out of the lab when he sees Adam walk back in, grinning ear-to-ear. “Fancy soap up there,” he says, pointing upstairs.

Donald smiles. “I’ll get some for down here while I’m at the store,” he says, ruffling Adam’s hair as he walks past. He’s about to leave when he hears Chase call for him, so he goes to find his youngest sitting in the rec room, looking troubled.

“Is Bree okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine, I promised she would be,” Donald says, crouching down so he can look at Chase eye-level. “Just, uh, just yicky girl stuff. You don’t need to worry about that.”

“Is it going to happen to me?” Chase is so, so smart that sometimes Donald forgets he’s just a little kid, barely tall enough to see over the cyberdesk. And when his gender dysphoria crashes over him and he starts to get panicky, he looks even younger. 

“No,” Donald says seriously, putting a hand on his son’s shoulder. “You know that special medicine you have?”

“Leuprolide pubertal blockers,” Chase reels off like an encyclopedia.

Donald smiles. “Yes, those, smartie pants,” he says. “You have those, so you’re not going to get a period like Bree does. I mean,” he stumbles, “maybe you will, if you decide in a few years that that’s what you want, but it’s also totally okay if you always feel like you feel right now. Chase,” he adds, feeling guilty for slipping up earlier with the wrong name. 

Chase smiles, showing his shiny white teeth. He’s the only one of the three kids who’s actually diligent about brushing every single night and every single morning. “Okay,” he says, looking a little more calm. 

“Okay,” Donald repeats. “I’m going to the store. Don’t let your brother burn the house down.” 

“That’s not a one-man mission,” Chase says with a smirk. Donald just rolls his eyes and heads for the elevator. He’s bad at this, all of this, that’s for sure. He just hopes he’s starting to get a little better. 


End file.
